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Via Lactea 1: "Flint"
Dasat System, 2 Lightyears Outside the Tommini System Igus sat in the darkened war room of the Impero Cruiser Coalition One. Soft light, bouncing off the nearby planet Dasat II, gently lit the chambers a pale green, but it wasn't enough to keep the inherent darkness of space at bay. Shadows still skulked across the inactive holo tables and empty chairs spread evenly across the empty war room, much like the shadows of war that loomed over the Coalition now, threatening to come crashing down upon her like a black tsunami of treason and xenophobic guile. Igus heaved a sigh of exasperation as he stood from his seat and moved to the nearest window. He gazed out into the emptiness of space, past Dasat II, towards the Proditor Sector where Natus Exignis sat on his throne of Imperon in cool satisfaction. The former Coalition world of Imperon had just made its first military advancement into UCIS space. Natus, Imperon's crazed ex-military leader, at the helm of a merciless attack on the peaceful world of Sempara, effectively nullified Igus' peace treaty established two years ago when the planets of the Proditor Sector seceded from the Coalition. Exignis couldn't live under the structure, "tyranny" as he called it, of the United Coalition any longer so he used his new found influence as Impero Premier to pull Inperon and the 17 other worlds of the Proditor Sector out of the fold of the Coalition, forming the Proditor Alliance. Now the entire Coalition seemed to be screaming for war. Exignis had done some rash things as a captain in the UCIS Navy, thus earning him a less than honorable reputation among the Coalition's citizens - in fact, Igus found it difficult to see how he even got himself elected as Impero Premier or why the other worlds of the Proditor Sector would even consider backing his extremist campaigns - but Exignis had gone too far with the full out invasion of a Coalition member world. The murder and detainment of innocent Coalition citizens was an unforgivable act, an unforgivable act that Igus seemed to be trying to make forgivable. The Coalition One was on its way to the Semparan System now for Igus to try and make peace with Exignis. A peaceful resolution to the situation was preferred. Igus would rather his last term as chancellor not be smeared with a bloodbath civil war. But at the same time Igus had to be prepared for the worst. Before Coalition One turned to Sempara it would first make a stop by the Coalition black-taped world of Tommini. A small lifeless rock with a secret just recently discovered by a Coalition geological survey team. Supposedly there was some new mineral hidden beneath the planet's surface that would decide the victor of the upcoming Exignis conflict. A mineral so powerful the planet Tommini and its star system were immediately wiped from all Coalition records and maps. The world was completely erased, as far as the Coalition knew it never existed, and the same for the new mineral discovered beneath its surface. Igus had spies in the Proditor Alliance government that had supposedly wiped the planet from the Alliance's records as well, but not knowing made Igus nervous. He hoped he wouldn't have to use this new upper hand. Hopefully his peace talks on Sempara would be successful and this entire conflict would be over before it began. Coalition One's intercom suddenly broke the silence of the dark war room and the captain's booming voice filled the ship's corridors, "All hands, prepare for spatial jump." Igus gripped the railing beneath the window and braced himself for the ship's upcoming burst out of the Dasat system. The cruiser slowed to a standstill and Igus shielded his eyes as a brilliant yellow light replaced the field of stars outside. Tommini, High Orbit Aboard The UCIS Destroyer Guardian Commander Orum Pideo stood at the large viewport of the Guardian's main bridge. He gazed out over Tommini's northern pole as the planet's sun broke the dead world's horizon. A small thing, blazing its brilliant white-blue so many thousands of miles away. Orum mused at how just a bit of space could make a world orbiting one of the hottest stars in the sector a freezing ball of rock and ice. His thoughts were interrupted when an ensign approached him with the readiness report Orum had requested. "Sir," the boy chirped in a fresh officer kind of tone. He offered the datpad containing his report to the Commander. Orum smiled at the kid's greenness as he grasped at the thin tablet, "Thank you, ensign," he replied taking the pad and opening the report. He thumbed through the first couple of introductory paragraphs and then moved on to the crew's ordinance inventory when he noticed the ensign was still standing at attention by Orum's side. He smiled again, "Dismissed, ensign." "Thank you, sir," the boy replied with a crisp salute and then about-faced to carry on with his various other duties. Orum shook his head with a smirk and wondered if he had ever been that stiff as an ensign. He scrolled down through the next section when suddenly a klaxon whooped accompanied by a single blue flash: the unidentified jump alert. Orum quickly pocketed the datapad and stepped onto the command tier, "What've we got Foriman," he asked placing a hand on the lieutenant's shoulder. The helmsman's fingers dances across his terminal for a second and then he read out the jump coordinates of the incoming starship, "Looks like a small cruiser coming in at 23 mark 48.6." The comm officer raised her hand, "It's okay, ID code reads as the Coalition One." The entire bridge crew seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief as the distant burst of yellow light heralded the Coalition Chancellor's ship into the Tommini systems off the Guardian's port bow. "Damn, why doesn't he call ahead?" Foriman complained. Orum turned to comm with a smile, "Open a channel." "Aye, Commander," the comm officer replied. She tapped a quick series of keys on her terminal then nodded to Orum. Orum faced the distant pinpoint of the Coalition One, "This is the UCBS Guardian to the UCIS Cruiser Coalition One, you boys are a couple of hours early. Nearly scared the pants off my crew." "Uh, sorry about that Guardian," the captain of the Coalition came back, "the Chancellor had us bookin' it. He'd like to get to the Semparan system as soon as possible." "I understand his haste. You boys bring that big girl to docking port 9 and my crew will take care of the rest." "Understood Guardian. Coalition One out." Orum turned to leave. He signaled the comm officer as he started for the exit, "Gya, you have the bridge. Send the greeting party to port 9. I'll meet them there. Foriman, you're with me." The comm officer obediently stood from her station and headed for the center of the bridge as Foriman left his post and followed the Commander down the exit ramp and into the main corridor. The pair walked in silence for a few feet before Foriman spoke up, "So, do you really think Igus will be able to talk the Imperos into letting me finish this tour?" Orum chuckled at Foriman's sarcasm, but the sad truth was the entire Coalition was expecting an all out brawl between the two major Centrality powers. The civilian population was practically demanding it, after what happened to the Semparans. "Don't talk like that," Orum replied reassuringly as they stepped into the turbolift, "Deck 12," he commanded the computer, "If any Chancellor could ever have gotten us out of this mess it's Igus. Besides, we'll probably end up getting stuck out here in the middle of nowhere away from all the action anyway. I wouldn't worry." "Yeah," Foriman agreed, "but then there's my brother. He's a lieutenant second grade on the Okiano, and my dad's a commander on the Intepid. So . . . guess that makes me the lucky one." Orum frowned, both the Okiano and the Intrepid were frontline, top of their class battle cruisers. If war did break out both ships would see a big bulk of the action. Orum placed an assuasive hand on the lieutenant's shoulder, "It won't come to that. The peace talks will be successful, and even if they aren't whatever new super weapon they're developing down there will make the Alliance turn tail and run back to the Proditor sector." Foriman gave Orum a hopeful smile as the doors to the turbolift opened. Down the corridor was the hatch of docking port 9. Two columns of armored troopers stood prepared and at attention. The seal of the hatch broke with a sharp hiss and the thick iris-like portal began to spin open slowly as Orum and Foriman joined the rest of the greeting party. Category:Via Lactea Stories